Your business will always be a target for potential data loss. So naturally, the question becomes: Who or what is doing the targeting?

Power failures

Say you’re working on a project, and you haven’t saved anything yet. If the power fails for some reason, then you will lose all the progress you’ve made. That’s just how it works. However, when it comes to power failures, that’s definitely not as bad as it can get.

Power failures also have the potential to cause hardware malfunctions. This is because when things unexpectedly shut down, they may do so improperly, damaging internal components in the process. If this is the case, then your equipment could struggle to turn back on. At this point, who cares about that one project… how are you going to recover any project?

Hardware failures

Speaking of hardware failures, there is never a situation where one works out well for your data, and according to EaseUS, hard drives crash every 5 years or so. In other words, if you don’t have your data backed up properly, then you’re most likely going to lose 5 years worth of data. But a crashed hard drive isn’t the only type of hardware issue that can shoot down your data. In this case, the sky’s the limit.

Software corruption

No software is perfect. Some will have performance issues; others will have bugs, and many more will most certainly have vulnerabilities. Because of this, you can never assume that your data is safe. You can pretty much guarantee that at some point your software will either refuse to open, shut down improperly, or close itself without permission. In other words, data will be lost.

Malware

Malware can do a whole lot of damage to your computer. It can hide out in your network, slow down processes, and use your device to infect other devices. But that’s not all malware can do… it can also steal, delete, or corrupt your data. Ever heard of Ransomware? Yeah… that’s malware, and nearly 50% of organizations have been hit with this data-kidnapping malware.

Accidents

Everyone makes mistakes. It’s kind of how the whole “human” thing works. But unfortunately, this reality does no favors for your data. Whether you accidentally delete a file or an entire folder, it does happen, and it happens a lot. However, those aren’t the only types of accidents that can result in data loss.

Lost, stolen or broken devices

Mobile devices are a pain. They’re lost, stolen, and broken all the time, which ultimately results in massive amounts of data loss. Imagine what would happen if you started a new project from your personal laptop and then dropped your laptop on the way to work the next morning. Unless that project was saved onto a shared platform, the progress you made will be lost forever.

The same concept holds true for those devices when they’re lost or stolen. Forget your phone in some random grocery cart or leave your laptop unattended in a public area, and you’re just asking for data loss.

Hackers

Hackers love data that isn’t theirs. They’ll take data from any industry, from any company, and for any reason, and because of this, data breach statistics are out of control. In 2016, 68% of data breaches were brought on by a malicious outsider, and the industries hit hardest included the likes of healthcare, government, and finance.

However, a hacking doesn’t always involve lost data. Oftentimes, it merely involves someone seeing something they shouldn’t have seen. This being said, breaches that do involve lost data (like Ransomware) can make it nearly impossible to work at all (since all your data is held captive). In these situations, it’s critical to have a reliable backup solution.

Vindictive employees

When people are fired, it’s usually not an ideal situation. Feelings are hurt; tempers are present, and emotions are everywhere. Basically, it’s a hot mess, and sometimes, this hot mess will end in a data disaster.

Ex-employees will take their logins and their intricate knowledge of your business applications and use this information to tear apart your data. This is why it’s critical to manage admin rights and login credentials immediately after a member of the team is let go.

However, when someone unexpectedly quits on you, you never know what information they’ve already packed up and shipped off to their new job. Unfortunate, but true.

Natural disaster

For some reason, everyone always likes to think that a natural disaster is required before any great amount of data loss can happen. However, this is hardly ever the case. In fact, natural disasters only account for 3% of data loss incidents. This being said… natural disasters still have the power to cripple your data – and permanently if you aren’t careful. Whether it’s a tornado, flood, or earthquake, each natural disaster is more dangerous to your data than the next.

How can we help you?

At Immense Networks, we have decades of combined experience providing data backup solutions for our partners. We help our partners secure their data and plan for business continuity. If you want to know more about our services or if you simply want to learn more about data backup and recovery, then give us a call today. We’d love to talk.